The 89th Oscars® took place at the Dolby® Theatre in Hollywood, CA on Sunday, February 26, 2017. The Academy Awards, the greatest annual film industry’s event, are an extravaganza of entertainment, celebrities, fashion and social trends every year. The Oscars are always perfectly organized and flawless. This year, was a bit different.
For once, we’ve seen Oscars highs AND lows. The 2017 Oscars’ glitches didn’t diminish either the image or the magic of The Academy Awards. The Academy is a venerated institution and no snafu can diminish its image.

The Red Carpet sizzled! Justin Timberlake’s opening performance not only brought the 89th Oscars audience to its feet, it set the tone for a high energy evening and inspired spontaneous dancing in the aisles. Sara Bareilles sung like an angel during the In Memoriam tribute to the stars we lost in 2016. John Legend, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Auli’i Cravalho were wonderful, but the most memorable performance of the night was Sting’s. “The Empty Chair” ballad from “Jim: The James Foley Story” was poignant and memorable. The film honors James Foley, the journalist killed by terrorists. Sting’s performance concluded with a Foley’s quote showed on a large screen: “If I don’t have the moral courage to challenge authority … we don’t have journalism.” Wise words that remain just as relevant today as when Foley has spoken them.
Jimmy Kimmel was his usual warm and entertaining self. Relatively controversy-free, the soon-to-be father, made a gracious Oscars host.

2017 Oscars Highs AND Lows

The main events of the Oscars take place on stage. So, what happened during the 89th Oscars?

The first big snafu in the Oscars 90 year history: Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway – stars of 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde – announced the Best Picture Winner erroneously! The situation has been clarified since.

In a statement PriceWaterHouseCoopers said: ”We sincerely apologize to “Moonlight,” “La La Land,” Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture. The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred.
We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC, and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation.”

Still, the moment was tough on everyone: the La La Land team who delivered meaningful acceptance speeches and yes, the Moonlight team who had to deal with a loss and then a win just seconds apart. The live and TV viewer audiences were confused, too….

In the end the team of Moonlight set us all at ease. Berry Jenkins said in a backstage interview:
“I think all the movies that were nominated were worthy, so I accepted the results. I applauded like everyone else. I noticed the commotion that was happening, and I thought something strange had occurred. And then I’m sure everybody saw my face. But I was speechless when the result that was awkward, because I’ve watched the Academy Awards, and I’ve never seen that happen before. And so it made a very special feeling even more special, but not in the way I expected.”
Asked what explanation he was given for the mixup, Jenkins replied:
“No explanation. Things just happen, you know? But I will say I saw two cards. And so things just happen, you know? I did but and because I wanted to see the card to see the card. And Warren refused to show the card to anybody before he showed it to me. And so he did. He came upstairs, and he walked over to me, and he he showed the card. Everybody was asking, Can I see the card? And he’s like, No, Barry Jenkins has to see the card. I need him to know. And he showed it to me, and I felt better about what had happened. I will say to all you people, please write this down: The folks from LA LA LAND were so gracious. I can’t imagine being in their position and having to do that. We spent a lot of time together over the last six months, and I can’t imagine being in their position and having to do that. So it’s why I wasn’t speechless because we won. I was speechless because I it was so gracious of them to do that.”

Not to worry, La La Land is by no means a loser! It has won unprecedented SIX Oscars: The film won six Oscars: Best Directing (Damien Chazelle), Best Actress (Emma Stone), Best Original Score (Justin Hurwitz), Best Song (“City of Stars”), Best Cinematography (Linus Sandgren), and Best Production Design (David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco). Not bad for a musicalin 2017!

The win of Iranian director Ashgar Farhadi for Best Foreign Language Film of the year, for “The Salesman”. Farhadi didn’t attend the ceremony due to the mess caused by President Trump’s travel ban.

He was however represented by Firouz Naderi and Anousheh Ansari, the latter delivered a moving statement from Farhadi:

“It’s a great honor to be receiving this valuable award for the second time. I would like to thank the members of the Academy, my crew in Iran, my producer Alexandre Mallet-Guy, Cohen Media, Amazon and my fellow nominees in the foreign film category. I’m sorry I’m not with you tonight. My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of other six nations whom have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the U.S. Dividing the world into the us and our enemies categories creates fear. A deceitful justification for aggression and war. These wars prevent democracy and human rights in countries which have themselves been victims of aggression. Filmmakers can turn their cameras to capture shared human qualities and break stereotypes of various nationalities and religions. They create empathy between us and others. An empathy which we need today more than ever. Thank you on behalf of Mr. Farhadi.”

Viola Davis’ win as the Best Actress In A Supporting Role. Her Oscar acceptance speech will go into history as one of the best Oscar speeches of all time. The 89th Oscar Winner for best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (for her performance in “Fences”) said:

“Thank you to the Academy. You know, there’s one place that all the people with the greatest potential are gathered. One place. And that’s the graveyard. People ask me all the time, “What kind of stories do you want to tell, Viola?” And I say, exhume those bodies. Exhume those stories. The stories of the people who dreamed big and never saw those dreams to fruition. People who fell in love and lost. I became an artist, and thank god I did, because we are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life. So here’s to August Wilson, who exhumed and exalted the ordinary people.
And to Bron Pictures, Paramount, MACRO, Todd Black, Molly Allen, Scott Rudin for being the cheerleaders for a movie that is about people, and words, and life, and forgiveness and grace. And to Mykelti Williamson, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Russell Hornsby, Jovan Adepo, Saniyya Sidney for being the most wonderful artists I’ve ever worked with. And, “O captain, my captain,” Denzel Washington. Thank you for puttin’ two entities in the driving seat: August and God.
And they served you well. And to Dan and Mae Alice Davis, who were the—and are the center of my universe. The people who taught me good or bad, how to fail, how to love, how to hold an award, how to lose: my parents. I’m so thankful that God chose you to bring me into this world. To my sisters. My sister Deloris, who’s here, who played Jaji and Jaja with me. We were rich white women in the tea party games. Thank you for the imagination. And to my husband and my daughter, my heart, you and Genesis. You teach me every day how to live, how to love. I’m so glad that you are the foundation of my life. Thank you to the Academy. Thank you.”

(Viola Davis earned an Oscar, Emmy and Tony and thus became only the 23rd person to have won all three.)

Last but not least, bringing a group of star-struck tourists on the Oscars stage was a stroke of genius because it gave us all the opportunity to experience the stars and their audience together.

The 89th Oscars weren’t mistake-free. One was the erroneous announcement of the Best Picture winner. Another blunder sneaked into the In Memoriam segment: a picture of a living Australian production designer (Chapman) was used in a tribute to a recently diseased Australian production designer (Patterson), misidentifying her in the photo’s caption as well.

Oscars have always been, are and will forever be, exciting, glamorous and inspiring. If anything, the massive mistake in the Best Picture winner announcement proves that Oscars aren’t run by divine beings but imperfect humans just like us. Good to know!

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